Danger Days Those Cloudy, Methane Skies
by Vegetasballs
Summary: An introduction to the Killjoys.
1. Chapter 1

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Those Cloudy, Methane Skies.

Chapter 1.

Wow. Wake up. Sunshine, bam. No, not sunshine, flames. Three hours sleep, sluggish.  
"Finally decided to join the barbecue yeah?"  
Ignore him. Take precious moments to think things over. Try to remember. They were expecting us, again. Fuck. Need to sit up and gain clarity but experience sharp pain at the top of my left arm. Shit. Inspection reveals burnt, charred skin.  
"Mmm they got you good Party."  
I glance up at Fun Ghoul, hunched over the fire shovelling his face with pieces of who-knows-what meat, burnt almost as badly as my shoulder. The others are sleeping, crashed out on the floor. Kobra is snoring. Loudly. I start to panic; someone is missing.  
"The girl? Where she?"  
He gestures for me to calm down by raising the palm of his free hand, not bothering to pause his meal.  
"Don't scare it. Girly gone for walk. Boreds. Felt bad for her, man."  
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Punch the floor with my left fist, the pain searing down my left arm only making me angrier.  
"What the fuck Ghoul? You let her go alone? She could be dead now you know, while you chew meat! What the fuck! Fuck! You can't be acting real right now."  
He threw his grub to the ground, stood up and pointed straight at me. "Hey man, I ain't no babysit person. I like to kill Dracs. Saving kiddies, that's not my shit. Want girl, go get girl."  
Idiot. Get up and start moving towards him. Pain in right thigh, must've got me there too. So angry. Shove him in chest. Hard. Probably shouldn't have. But fuck him.  
"Do you realize? If she's gone for good me, you, us; screwed. They most probs knifing her up right now! And it's your fault!"  
I'm screaming. Notice the other two awake now, laying and watching in awe.  
"One thing to do, watch the girl. You fuck up!"  
He backs up a bit, palm raised again. No reassurance this time, just fear. His eyes look frightened.  
"L...Look, I'm so...sorry, man. Don't scare it, I'll go find her."  
I throw my arms wide and look around. Its night.  
"In the desert? in the fucking _night?_ How long she been gone?"  
He can't look at me. Must be a pretty picture on the floor 'cause that's where the dick-face is staring.  
"'Bout...hour? Maybe less. Probably less."  
"An hour? And you just sat there eating meat like a fucking dog?"  
He doesn't like that, gets some of his confidence back.  
"Man, what were you doing? You love little girly so much you went and snoozed. Left me to watch her. You talk alotta shit, man. I like her, so give her time to herself. Big fuck. Get your red head outta your ass.  
Motherfucker. Cheek. I grab him and the guys gasp. He's gunna get what he deserves. No more mess ups. But just then...  
"Hey guys?"  
We all turn. There she stands, this tiny girl on a starlight horizon. Standing on a mound of sand above us but in the dark it looks like she's floating. Small angel. I let go of Ghoul.  
"Please stop fighting, I'm fine, honestly. Look."  
She proceeds to twirl round, flicking her brown curls everywhere, then stops and smiles nervously.  
"I'm sorry for going. It wasn't Fun Ghoul's fault, I was just so bored and couldn't sleep. I just wanted to stretch my legs. I'm sorry."  
I clear my throat. Killed hundreds of men, if you call them that, but still nervous around small child. Damn.  
"It's...okay. Don't do it again. Can't lose you."  
I sigh and repeat.  
"Can't lose you."  
She smiles. I look at Fun Ghoul, who hasn't taken his eyes off me and nod. He looks relieved. Hmm. I walk away, go to try and catch my thoughts. Impossible. I sit on a dune and the sand slips away beneath. Behind me I hear three grown men laughing with the giggle of a small, important girl. In the distance, tiny lights pierce the darkness. I wish they were stars.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I'd Love You if I Wasn't So Heartless

I'm seven years old.  
My mother sits, crying at the table, pausing her weeping only to scream at my father. I sit at the window, watching the stillness of the outside world. People walk by, never looking up. We're all invisible. I'm thirsty but there's no water. It doesn't rain anymore. Nothing happens anymore.  
I turn to watch my parents. I miss them laughing. We used to laugh and smile all day long. Now they look broken. They shout about my uncle. They shout about those people he killed. They shout about the war. About how we haven't eaten properly in days. About me. My father pushes my mother. She slaps him in the face. I turn around and resume looking out the window. There is a girl, surely no older than me, looking in my direction. She sees me notice her and a smile appears on her porcelain face. She has amazing red hair that gently blows in the sandy breeze. I smile back at her. We just stare at each other, smiling, for what seemed like forever, the way things do when you're so small. She doesn't seem real to me. She starts to walk towards me but stops. There is screaming. Screaming coming from outside. My parents have gone quiet. The girl with the red hair looks at me. She's not smiling anymore. Before I can do or say anything, my father grabs me from behind, shouting how everything's going to be okay. He covers my eyes but not my ears. As him and my mother carry me to the closet to hide, I can still hear the screaming above the gunshots now being fired outside. I am weeping silently.

My family hides in the darkness for at least an hour, I think, until the screaming and gunfire stopped. Until there was silence again. Nobody came for us that day. We go outside to stand in the heat amongst the bodies of our friends. My parents hold each and sob. I stand there, empty. I begin running up the street, weaving in and out of the corpses of my neighbours. My mother screams my name but I keep running. The others who are now also coming outside pay her calls no attention, grief etched over their faces and unable to comprehend the situation. It never got easier for us. I look at the faces on the ground. I need to find her, she needs to be okay. Frantically I search. Tears run down my young face. That's when I see her. Lying face down on the floor. Her red hair dirtied and draped in dust. Dead. I fall to my knees and I cry. I cry more than I have ever cried before, more than any one should ever have to cry.  
I'm seven years old.

"Party, why are you being so quiet? Is something wrong?"

I snap back. We've been walking for so long. I turn to Umbra, the little girl looking up at me with her big copper eyes.  
"Sorry…Mind was lost. Thinking of other stuff".

She eyes me suspiciously, squinting in the sunlight. She doesn't buy it but knows me well enough not to pry, gives me a grin of acceptance and looks forward as we continue to walk.  
"So, are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"

We'd been wandering in the desert for about two hours now. Fun Ghoul and Kobra Kid have gone to The Old Places to see some guy, while Jet-Star stayed back at base. That's his way. Probably trying to read a book or something. Strange. I was taking the girl somewhere special. Somewhere bad. A place most Killjoys never see. But she had to see. Vital.

"Girly, you'll see soon! Geez, don't you ever give up? Not long left."

She sighed.  
"We've been walking for hours! This has to be worth it."

I glanced at her, frustration filling her small face. She is a child. An important child, but still a child. Yet she will never know what it's like to be one.

"You'll see for yourself. Here we are!"

She looks around, confused. She places her hands on her hips and sternly glares at me. I stifle a laugh.

"Here? There's nothing here!"

I kneel down and knock the floor. To her amazement, instead of the dull thud of sand her ears are met with a faint clank of metal. She gasps, eyes wide with shock and excitement, I assume. Fear? I step back and after some louder noises coming from beneath us, the door, where I was just standing, swings open in the floor, taking a lot of sand with it. Never gets old. I start moving towards the hole and gesture for her to follow.

"Wai…Wha..What is that? Where are we going?"

I look into her eyes and smile.

"We're going to Drac Hell."


End file.
